Where to go, and what to wear when you're there.

City of culture

Amid the Olympic melee, I would seek refuge in Rio’s new Cidade das Artes, a massive cultural complex designed by French architect Christian de Portzamparc. Wedged between the sea and the mountains, the Cidade sits atop a flat plain crisscrossed by highways, now reimagined as a fledgling district, Barra da Tijuca. Unveiled in January, the complex exists as a city unto itself with a concert hall, cinema, galleries, rehearsal rooms, studios and a restaurant. Anchored by a vast elevated terrace—designed as a public gathering space—the Cidade is an eloquent expression of form: two horizontal slabs of concrete frame the first floor and roof, with elevated boxes, large curving fins and splayed columns adding interior elements. A dance of volumes and voids overlooking the sprawling city. Medal-worthy.